1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an insect-killing device, and more particularly to an improved portable electronic insect-killing device having a screen with isolated parallel positive and negative bare output wires.
2. Description of Related Art
Various kinds of electric insect-killing devices have been suggested in the art. U.S. Pat. No. 1,754,748 to Frost discloses an insect destroyer which comprises alternately disposed negative and positive wires extending between two opposing frame parts of an insulative frame. The frame parts are provided with U-shaped slots or cut-outs to receive and position the wires at intervals, and the surfaces of the frame parts adjacent to the wires are substantially flush with the plane of the wires. The frame as such may encounter a problem in that, when the frame surfaces are wetted, the wetted frame surfaces may cause a short circuit because they bridge adjacent wires.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,910,623 to McWilliams et al discloses another insect destroyer which has an insulating frame with oblique grooves to receive alternately arranged negative and positive wires. The grooved surface can bridge adjacent wires as it is substantially flush with the plane of the wires.
Sykes (U.S. Pat. No. 1,966,999) discloses an apparatus for electrocuting insects. The apparatus has a plurality of insulating blocks each of which has deep and shallow notches for positioning wires. The deep notches are deeper than the shallow notches from a surface perpendicular to the plane of the wires. Along the plane of the wire, there are no deep grooves in the surface of the insulating block such that the surface is substantially flush with the plane of the wires.
Smith (U.S. Pat. No. 3,685,198) discloses an electrical grid system which has parallel wires connected to intersecting conductive rods so that the conductive rods bridge the parallel wires.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,758,980 to Bialobrzeski discloses opposing insulating channels for mounting the ends of parallel conductors of a grid assembly. The parallel conductors are positioned to the channels via bus portions integral with the ends of the conductors. The bus portions are mounted in abutment with a surface of the insulating channels which are not provided with any wire receiving groove.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,533,298 owned by the applicant of this application discloses an insect-killing device which includes a handle and a frame. A top portion of the frame defines a plurality of recesses, while a bottom portion of the frame defines a plurality of channels of distinct height corresponding to the recesses. Each channel defines a hole. A plurality of bare output wires A and a plurality of bare output wires B are alternately arranged in parallel within the frame. The upper ends of the bare output wires A and the bare output wires B are alternately received in the recesses, whereas the lower ends of the bare output wires A and the bare output wires B alternately extend through the holes of the channels to connect with a power supply unit in the handle. Also, an upper cover is combined with a lower cover to seal the lower ends of the wires A and B. In this device, the surfaces of the top and bottom frame parts adjacent to the wires are substantially flush with the plane of the wires. Therefore, in the event that the surfaces of the frame parts are wetted when pursuing and capturing a reptile on a wet surface, the wetted frame surface may result in a short circuit and in eventual power loss.